As we strolled through the aisles of the bookshelves
Spent days and nights studying in the library
We left behind our footprints filled with excitement
And we were rewarded by the endless exploration of knowledge.
The year of 2023 in the library belongs to all of us
Let's open the box of memories
And reflect on these wonderful moments together.
In 2023, the Learning Resource Centre was open for 309 days, with a total of 768,263 visits. The average number of visits per day was 2,623 (excluding winter and summer vacations), with an average time of 2 hours and 32 minutes spent per person per day (excluding winter and summer vacations).
On May 12, 2023, the day of the graduation photo shoot, the Learning Resource Centre reached its peak for the year with 8,531 visits.
The student with the longest time spent in the library in 2023 was HAN, a fourth-year student from Finance, with a total time of 1,852 hours.
“The library is my daily study place. The quiet environment allows me to immerse myself in learning to quickly and efficiently complete tasks. The rich collection of books helps me expand my knowledge and explore more areas. The group discussion rooms provide UIC students with a place to express themselves freely, and it's also a good place for me to discuss group assignments with classmates. In addition, the library has others like me who like to ‘check in’ every day. Meeting them and working together is also my motivation to go to the library!'" – HAN
In 2023, both the print and electronic resources of the Learning Resource Centre continued to steadily grow with 625,878 print books, over 1.2 million e-books, and a total of 121 electronic databases.
Total number of books borrowed: 27,858
Average number of books borrowed per person: 2.6
Average number of books borrowed by male: 2.0
Average number of books borrowed by female: 2.9
Number of books borrowed by undergraduate and postgraduate students
The 2021 cohort had the highest amount, with a total of 3,701 books.
The 2023 cohort, who entered in late August, borrowed 2,759 books in just over four months.
Book Subject Popularity Ranking
Top Three Chinese Language Book Subjects
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| Philosophy, Religion 2,387 volumes | |
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Top Three Foreign Language Book Subjects
| Social Sciences 1,853 volumes | |
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The most popular book subjects in both Chinese and foreign languages in 2023 remain consistent with those in 2022, with literature holding a special place in our readers’ hearts.
Most Popular Chinese and Foreign Language Books
Top 10 Chinese Language Books
Top 10 Foreign Language Books
Total usage time: 26,231 hours
Usage by User Type
The soundproof pods equipped with MET English speaking database practice equipment were used for a total of 720 hours last year. The 2020 cohort used them the most, totaling 235 hours. The most popular time slot was from 19:00-20:00, with a total use of 106 hours.
As a powerful one-stop discovery platform for academic libraries around the world, Primo VE has seen significant usage, with 178,286 visits and 447,408 searches in 2023. It not only searches the content of English databases LRC subscribes to and print resources in the library’s collection, but also guides the discovery of more relevant academic resources beyond the LRC’s collection, effectively supporting the teaching, learning and research.
Top 5 searches on Primo VE
Financial Inclusion
1,807 times
Information Literacy Workshops
In 2023, the library held 65 information literacy workshops, including 40 customized lectures and 25 database lectures, with a total of 1,744 participants. The content covered various databases subscribed to by the library and basic search skills. According to feedback, the majority of the participants (95.81%) grasped the key content of the lectures. By attending the lectures, students learned basic literature search skills and were able to better utilize the library’s electronic resources.
Interlibrary Loan Service
In 2023, UICers applied for interlibrary loan services 236 times, including 97 applications from faculty and staff, and 139 from students, with a fulfillment rate of 96.6%.
LibGuides is an integrated navigation platform that includes subject-related resources, such as books, journals, databases, and search tips to provide readers with subject-specific professional services. Currently, the library has released 34 subject guides, covering all undergraduate majors offered by UIC’s four faculties.
The UIC Scholars Hub is a platform for collecting, preserving, presenting, and disseminating research achievements of UIC scholars. It provides direct access to scholars' articles, allowing a better understanding of their research areas and interest, supporting UIC’s teaching and research. Currently the Scholars Hub has included 196 UIC scholars, with a total of 4,920 journal articles, 1,356 conference papers, 512 book chapters, and 276 review articles.
CTV 24 Frames Movie Database
CTV’s 24 frames movie database was created by the LRC to collect, preserve and display CTV graduation works. The database includes all graduation works from 2010 to 2023, in total 378 film works, covering various genres such as drama, animation, action, family, suspense, etc. UICers can log into the movie database with their UIC email accounts (the front half before@ ) and password to enjoy various films created by CTV seniors.
“The Little Prince” Reading and Book Exhibition
On April 28, 2023, “The Little Prince” book exhibition and reading were held in the atrium on the first floor of the Learning Resource Centre. On that day nearly 30 teachers and students read different classic passages from “The Little Prince” in their own languages and dialects including French, Spanish, German, Catalan, Ukrainian, Malay, Korean, Japanese, Filipino, Indonesian, Uighur Cantonese, Hakka, Tianjin dialect, Wuhan dialect, Mandarin, Chaozhou dialect, Fujian dialect, and Chongqing dialect. After the reading session, the audience enjoyed different versions of “The Little Prince” collected by Ms. Roser Cervera over the years from around the world. This event attracted more than 70 teachers and students to participate.
The WellNest Book Sharing was held both on-site and online. Professor Johnston Wong led everyone in reading famous literary works including 'Cervantes’, “Don Quijote”, Shiono’s “Rome was not Built in A Day”, and “Man’s Search for Meaning”.
Students also left some encouraging words for each other on the WellNest sharing wall.
In 2023, the library has recommended a variety of theme-based books, including Douban’s Annual Best Books 2022, Goodreads’ Best Books 2022, Amazon’s Best Books 2022, College Life & Study Skills, Job Interview, Postgraduate Education Exhibition themed English books, Douban’s Recommended Books for the first half of 2023, Party and Government Books. We regularly publish book recommendations on the LRC’s official WeChat account so that readers can have a better understanding of the high-quality resources offered by the library.
In the Autumn season, the International Academic Book Fair was held once again in the Learning Resource Centre, continuing the tradition. The book fair exhibited more than 5,000 newly published books by internationally renowned publishers. Readers could choose their favorite books to recommend for the library. In the end, more than 1,400 new books were added to the library collection.
Discovering the Legacy: History of Western Sinology
From December 1st to December 10th, 2023, the poster exhibition “Discovering the Legacy: History of Western Sinology” curated by the 2021 cohort of students from the Chinese Culture and Global Communication Major (CCGC) of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences were displayed in the atrium on the first floor. This exhibition was organized by Associate Professor, Dr. Wong Wei Chin and Teaching Assistant, LI Tian. The content covered the life of 26 Western sinologists from the 16th to the 19th century, their works on China, and their important achievements and contributions in the field of Sinology research. Readers could not only view the exhibitions but also vote for their favorite posters.
Book Club Corner Activity
The library has held several book club corner activities during the semester. Students could choose to participate at their own convenience. ELC teacher, Tony, met with students from each group once a week to discuss and share their insights on their books. This "Reading—Sharing" format allows participating students to improve their reading skills while practicing their speaking abilities. As a reward, those who attended all sessions received books, custom LRC keychains, bookmarks, calendars and other gifts from the LRC.
7th UIC MET English Speaking Contest
The 7th UIC MET English Speaking Contest was successfully held in the first half of 2023. Its relaxed, free, and low-pressure format was well-received, as students enthusiastically participated and achieved excellent results.
MET Speaking Contest First Prize Winner:
XU Bingying, 2021 Cohort
Read more, practice more, and believe in yourself.
MET Speaking Contest First Prize Winner:
LIN Yanqiu, 2019 Cohort
Through the contest, I learnt that practice makes perfect. Seeing myself making progresses along the way encouraged me to keep trying and break my limits. We should be persistent in our individual goals, believe in ourselves and leave no regret.
MET Speaking Contest Second Prize Winner: ZHOU Yuqing, 2022 Cohort
I really appreciated having chance to join this activity, as practice makes perfect. Also I hope that we can all progress step by step, at our own pace and in our style.
UIC welcomed the freshmen cohort of 2023. To better familiarize them with the various resources and services of the library, the LRC held a freshman orientation activity on August 27th and 28th. The 2,031 freshmen were divided into 227 groups, led by librarians to tour the library, who explained the resources, collection distribution, service facilities, etc., in detail. After the orientation, students expressed that they gained a lot, with 80% of freshmen participating in the satisfaction survey, achieving a high satisfaction rate of 99.5%.
In addition to the orientation, freshmen could also participate in the library’s scavenger hunt activity. By searching the library and using the system, they could answer the questions on the scavenger hunt questionnaire, while better understanding the rich resources of the library, and improving their search skills. 77 freshmen actively participated in the scavenger hunt, with 15 lucky ones completing the hunt exceptionally well and received prizes from the library.
In 2023, the library received a total of 189 visits, with librarians introducing the facilities and resources to more than 2,600 people. In addition, more than 2,500 individual visitors, including alumni, students’ relatives and friends, and members of the community, registered to visit the library.
The LRC in winter exuded a warm Christmas atmosphere, with our decorated Christmas tree, lantern-lit Santa Claus, cute reindeer, snowy street lights, and of course, delicious Christmas chocolates. We hope that these could bring a little warmth during the final exams.
In 2023, 17 student assistants assisted in the daily work of the library, effectively balancing their study and work commitments. Here are some reflections from their work experience:
Hello, everyone! I am DENG Yuxin. My job is to handle book loans and returns, assist readers with book searches, and provide simple consultation services. Through more than two years of work experience, I have not only become familiar with the various operational processes of the library but also learned about the library’s classification system and search tools, quickly finding the books and materials the readers need. I have also learned how to handle the loan and return processes of books, ensuring the efficient use of library resources.
This experience gave me a deeper understanding of the library’s operating model and service content, as well as the needs and expectations of readers. I have also learned how to communicate effectively with readers and help them solve various problems. This experience is very beneficial for improving professional competence and service abilities.
Thanks to the care of the library, I have a unique little world in school. Working in the library not only exposed me to a wider variety of books but also provided an opportunity to learn to communicate with people while serving my fellow students. It is also a moment of rest from my busy academic life. The desire to become close friends with books is my constant source of motivation for working in the library. I wish that those of you reading this can also find the answers in the LRC and between the lines of books in the new year.
After a year and a half of being an LRC student assistant, I can still vividly recall every happy moment here: Opening the automatic doors on a sunny Saturday morning, running back to the dormitory for a midnight snack after closing the library on a winter night, circling the exact location of a book on the map, working at the Circulation Desk and in the office behind, comforting myself after every trouble, and retrieving a missing book. LRC has always been a place that I have loved and longed for.
I am honored to have become a student assistant in the LRC this year, serving as a guide to help books “return home”. Using the Dewey Decimal Classification and Chinese Library Classification system, I can quickly and skillfully reshelf the books for teachers and students to borrow. In the process of shelving books, I not only recommended new and good books to my classmates, but also helped them find the books they needed.
In the new year, I hope to continue to provide more help to teachers and students at the LRC and progress together with everyone.
The numbers and photos in 2023
showcased our efforts
Heavenly rewards diligent efforts
Industry rewards talents.
In 2024, Let's remain true to our original aspiration and continue to move forward
